An historical ethnography of the enactment of Rawl’s Theory of Justice as applied to the education of learners with disability in Western Australia

The education of students with disability has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Universal declarations and conventions have underpinned many of these changes at both an international level and within Australia. In the early 1970s, the philosophy of John Rawls provided a theory of justice to preserve social justice and individual liberty within communities. This mirrored attempts to advance education to ensure social justice, rights and access to education for learners with disability. This micro-historical ethnography provides a review spanning the past half century in Australia of changes to the education of students with disability. Underpinned by an ethnographic epistemology through interviews with the presentism of eight educators involved in Western Australian education for learners with disability, and viewed through an interpretivist lens, major elements of change are identified. An analytical framework deduced from the work of Rawls is used to reflect upon the changes and discuss the degree that Rawls’ justice as fairness has been enacted in education for learners with disability from 1970 to 2021 in Australia. Key words: Australia, learners with disability, special education, inclusion, Rawls, equity, social justice

The Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) Scale for Measuring Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions about Inclusion

This paper reports the final development of a scale to measure pre-service teachers’ perceptions in three constructs of inclusive education, namely, sentiments or comfort levels when engaging with people with disabilities; acceptance of learners with different needs; and concerns about implementing inclusion. The Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale was developed from an initial 60 items and administered through a series of refined surveys. A final 15-item scale was validated using 542 pre-service teachers from nine institutions in four countries including Hong Kong, Canada, India, and the United States. It is posited that the SACIE-R scale will yield valuable information for assisting universities and colleges in preparing more specific training to address the needs of pre-service teachers for working with diverse student populations

Neubau des Lehrtraktes der Anatomie

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A report on the role of the support teacher (learning difficulties) in regular schools in Queensland in 1999

In recent years there has been a noticeable change in the focus of the role of teachers who provide support for children with learning difficulties or disabilities. This report outlines the finding of research undertaken in 1999 to clarify and document the role of the Support Teacher (Learning Difficulties) in regular schools in Queensland. Support teachers (N=196) responded to a postal questionnaire about a range of issues associated with their role including time allocation, training, activities required, types of provision of support, identification and assessment, and school policy. In addition, information was obtained on the demographics of their position and about students with impairments and students with special educational needs in their schools

Preparedness of Pre-service Teachers for Inclusive Education in the Solomon Islands

Recent policy changes in the Pacific Islands have seen a strong emphasis on implementing inclusive education. Preparing teachers for this change in education will be essential if they are to have the knowledge, skills and understandings so that they can become inclusive practitioners. Pre-service teacher education will play a critical role in supporting this process. This paper considers the perceptions of pre-service teachers undertaking the first year of the Diploma of Teaching in the one university in the Solomon Islands. This is the only university that prepares teachers to work across the entire archipelago. Data are collected pre and post participation in a course on inclusive education to identify its impact on pre-service teachers’ intentions, attitudes, concerns and teaching efficacy to teach in inclusive classrooms. Data are used to inform the proposed revision of the existing teacher education program to address education reform towards inclusive education

Influences on student decisions to enrol in higher-level mathematics courses

Addressing the participation rates in senior secondary mathematics courses in Australian schools remains a critically important issue. In this paper, the authors report on quantitative findings from a study in which all year 11 and year 12 (aged 17–18 years) Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) students in Western Australia were invited to participate. The aim was to explore the perceptions of these students regarding their enrolment in higher-level mathematics courses. Data from 1633 students were collected using a survey instrument comprised of 12, 5-point, Likert-scale items. Data were analysed by applying two statistical procedures: calculating frequencies of the 12 items in the scale and examining associations with demographic characteristics and individual items through generalised linear modelling. Analyses indicated most students agreed that other courses of study were more attractive, with almost half indicating that they did not like mathematics. In addition, approximately half of the students said that they did not need to enrol in any mathematics course for ATAR or for university entrance. Significant findings were also identified for gender, school type, and school gender. The knowledge gained from this research is valuable in understanding students’ reasons for choosing not to enrol in higher-level mathematics courses when they have the option to do so and, more broadly, to address persistently low or declining participation rates in these areas of study

Teacher education for diversity

This research reports the findings from three Queensland universities regarding preservice teachers' attitudes towards people with disabilities. The Interactions With Disabled Persons Scale (Gething, 1991) was administered to investigate the effect of personal attributes on preservice teachers' acceptance of and social interactions with people with disabilities. The findings indicate that only four percent of preservice teachers surveyed had undertaken any compulsory courses and only 18 percent had taken elective units in teaching children with special needs. Preservice teachers who had at least weekly contact with people with disabilities perceived less discomfort with such interactions than did those who had less contact. Additionally, postgraduate students experienced greater discomfort than undergraduates did. The implications of these findings for the development of compulsory preservice courses that focus on diversity and for subsequent changes in content at the participating universities are discussed